Rolando Diaz has been a painter for as long as he can remember. The ACU alum and Cuban native has spent more than 20 years working with paint on canvas. Only recently did he start thinking in three dimensions, creating several mixed media works from found objects and materials. Then he discovered the ACU Maker Lab.
Even before ACU’s new digital fabrication space opened to the campus in October, Ro began working alongside ACU faculty and staff inside the space, planning and creating a sculptural piece with the tools the facility offered.
The Learning Studio’s filmmaking team accompanied Ro and his collaborators during the project, including visiting his Dallas studio. The result is this beautiful two-minute documentary of the group’s creative process inside the Maker Lab, from start to finish.
Ro hopes to use this small model as a prototype for a five-foot version, to be unveiled at his annual gallery show in Dallas this December. We asked him to give us the backstory on “Forbidden Fruit,” the series of paintings on which the sculpture is based.
In 2011 shy, unassuming Writing Center director Dr. Cole Bennett stunned audiences with his riveting portrayal of a shmarmy boss in their first promotional parody of The Office. This fall he returns in a more ambitious role inspired by the hoity grammarians at Downton Abbey.
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The shorts were written and directed by Christina Johnson and Learning Studio alum Ben Weaver and feature student tutors from the Writing Center. Christina has been working with Dr. Bennett since she was an undergrad, finishing a BA in English in 2011. This last spring she was the first Masters candidate to defend a screenplay thesis to complete her MA in Creative Writing.
Christina is now an Associate Producer and Researcher for AMS Pictures in Dallas, working on a number of television and documentary projects including shows for HGTV.
Congrats Christina and Ben, and we’re looking forward to seeing bigger things in the near future.
We released our first short documentary We Are Makers in June and it keeps on rolling. We’re approaching 10,000 views in the first two months in over 60 countries, so obviously we’re pleased with the initial reception.
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Two opportunities we were equally proud of were a couple guest blogs we were asked to write this summer alongside the release. If you’d like some detail on the film, here are those links.
Last week we released a short documentary on the Maker Movement as part of broader discussions on campus about the value of “learning by doing.” We’re pleased to share it with the ACU community as so many here on campus contributed to its final shape.
We spent several weeks in March interviewing key voices thinking about the impact of making in different contexts—in community centers and libraries, in education and museums, and in hackerspaces and online.
We’ve already had a chance to thank those who welcomed us into their makerspaces and workshops while shooting in Austin and NYC, but we did want a chance to share a few of the Abilene connections.
thanks to Michael Daugherity and the department of Engineering and Physics for return visits to film their 3D printer and begin thinking about its future impact
Sandy Freeman welcomed us into the ACU Theatre Costume Shop where Amanda Martin made a dress on the spot
we spent a great afternoon with James Langford dusting off our macro lenses to shoot tools in his shop
Megan May in the library not only shared her lightening-fast knitting but also introduced us to student maker Brittany Bunch who is both an Etsy seller (at Projects for Bliss) and a part-time Disney princess
Evan Young helped edit the additional footage for wearemakers.org while Matt and Nathan were heads-down on the final film
and finally Elvis Sanchez who worked with Nathan to score the transitions in the film with stunning work on a tight deadline
The production of the film itself just reminded us how many makers surround us here in Abilene, making this a logical spot to open a makerspace of our own.
Those of you who have been with us in Cornerstone this fall got a glimpse of one of our summer projects. This was our second kick-off film to welcome freshmen to campus and the ACU Core–Kyle Trafton produced “You Are ACU” for us in 2010.
“Counting the Days” was produced by Matt Bardwell and Nathan Driskell, our media production specialists in the Learning Studio, and offered a creative break from our work on the Year One Report this summer. Enjoy.
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Behind the Scenes
The film combines time-lapse photography with a tilt-shift effect and graphics done in post-production. After we premiered the film in Cornerstone, the guys received a number of questions about how it was put together, so Matt walks through how the shots were done with a couple favorites that didn’t make the final cut.
Special thanks to Scot Colley, Kristian Allen, and Joel Swedlund for help getting some of these shots.
